Volunteer Work Day

May 10, 2008

Reported by Tom Gaylord

Had a great turn-out last Saturday, folks divided up
into several teams and quickly got down to business.

Tom Gaylord started the day out easy by painting the bottom
border on the wooden entrance sign. Carl Canga had
repaired the decorative trim along the bottom on a
previous trip. Al Sumrall has said he'll get some
green paint and touch up the metal rail fence at the
entrance before the Air Fair. The wood on the sign
isn't faring well... I suggested to Roger he laser cut
some metal stuff for the sign to create something more
durable!

Tom then joined "Team Washing". Bill & Will Walsh,
Tom Gaylord, Susan Braden, and a whole host of others
throughout the day washed various aircraft. The worst
of the bunch was the Meyers OTW!! The 2nd aircraft we
tackled! Only the 2 Fokker D.VIIs and the Rearwin
Sportster need washing. The Piper Cub, Meyers,
Bleriot, and Pietenpol were all washed. Jeez...
seemed like we washed more airplanes than that!!!

Greg Solberg wasn't able to attend, but sent along the
Ford Model T steering wheel he made. Still needs a
few coats of varnish to complete, but Al took the part
home to finish that. The rim is all mahogany wood and
is gorgeous.

During the day Mike McMains flew down in his RV-7
(christened "Mighty Mouse") to deliver the fuel/oil
tank for the Curtiss Junior. Needs a few tweaks to
fit perfectly, but looks "the business" perched in
front of the engine. Mike also brought along what he
has done on the Indian motorcycle fuel tanks. Mike
says that the tanks were just corroded and useless
except as patterns. Mike had about 75% of the right
side tank to test fit to the bike.

Sanford turned into a one-man "Team"... Team Sewing
Machine! Roger and crew are starting the covering
process on the SPAD and Roger's ancient (1918?)
"professional" sewing machine was in need of some TLC.
Sanford tackled the job and appears to have conquered
the thing! Sanford's wife is a world-class quilter,
so apparently Sanford has become a sewing machine
technician over the years, in addition to his other
fine qualities!

Terry Bledsoe spent nearly all day in the new hanger,
sorting boxes of parts, condensing the boxes, etc.,
etc. The first item addressed was moving the wood
Roger brought back from his father's place in
California into the shop proper. Team Lumber (Mike
McCormick, Isaac Bridges, Doug Hortvet, and Gary
Goolsby) lept into action, sorting the wood and
getting it all stored! Roger has some amazing chunks
of wood... 30 ft lengths of aircraft spar grade Sitka
Spruce!! Unwieldy things to store! I didn't see the
hanger after Terry was done, but for the amount of
effort he put into the task I'm sure he made a major
impact!

Team Canuck (Tom Miller, Gary Goolsby, Doug Hortvet
and others) went back to work fitting the improved
engine priming system and completed the task that day.
Very late in the day the aircraft was buttoned up and
Roger took it for a test flight. All went well, but
the engine seemed to be running quite rich. Still a
few engine bugs to work out!

Ron Marcotte re-installed the cockpit coaming fairings
on the Fokker Triplane. Roger hasn't gotten them
covered yet, but he is eager to resume flying the
airplane since the most recent rounds of mods has been
completed. Ron then assisted Team Washing, especially
with moving aircraft into position!

Team Vehicles (Al Sumrall, John Bush, Dave Miller &
Jeremy Beheler and others) went to work mainly on the
Nash Quad. The water pump is giving them fits.
Attempts were made to get air into the ambulance tire,
again, I think, without success. Once again, the
running vehicles were driven around the grounds to
keep their vital juices flowing and going.

Roger Ritter drove down... apparently just to fly the
Piper Cub. That done, he was out of time apparently
and left! Poor guy, he missed out on all the fun of
washing a few airplanes. The Cub was the first
airplane washed and Roger was threatened with dire
consequences if he got the bird dirty! (I was very
careful not to dirty it up! - RR)

That pretty much sums up the day. A lot got done
folks, Congratulations! And Thanks!